David Szalay wins Booker prize with ‘extraordinary and singular’ novel Flesh

David Szalay’s ‘Flesh’ follows the inscrutable Hungarian man over the decades from adolescence to late-middle age - (David Parry/Shutterstock)

Flesh by British-Hungarian author David Szalay has won the 2025 Booker prize for fiction.

Szalay’s sixth novel, which follows the travails of an inscrutable Hungarian man over the decades, was unanimously chosen as the winner after a six-hour discussion, said Irish writer Roddy Doyle, chair of the Booker judging panel and previous recipient of the prestigious award.